Nairobi - Activists accused South Sudan's
government on Monday of funnelling cash from the state oil
company to militias responsible for atrocities and attacks on
civilians.
South Sudan dismissed the report by The Sentry, a group
co-founded by actor George Clooney. "The oil money did not even
... buy a knife. It is being used for paying the salaries of the
civil servants," said presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny.
The Sentry said it had found documents, including payment
logs from state oil operator Nilepet, suggesting that cash from
the company had been used to fund fighters caught up in the
country's civil war. Nilepet was not immediately available for
comment.
"The documents appear to describe how top officials used
Nilepet funds to support a group of (ethnic) Padang Dinka
militias active in northeastern Upper Nile state and implicated
in widespread attacks against civilians and other atrocities,"
the Washington D.C.-based group said in a statement.
South Sudan has been racked by an ethnically charged civil
war since late 2013, pitting forces loyal to President Salva
Kiir, a member of the Dinka group, against rebels linked to
former vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer.
The Sentry said it had also received a log kept by South
Sudan's Ministry of Petroleum and Mining detailing $80 million
worth of security-related payments made by Nilepet.
It did not publish any of the documents and Reuters was not
able to verify the accusations independently.
WAR CRIMES
The ministry of petroleum had funded food, fuel and
satellite phone airtime and sent money to militias accused of
attacking civilians, The Sentry said.
"They have used the country's oil to buy weapons, fund
deadly militias, and hire companies owned by political insiders
to support military operations that have resulted in horrific
atrocities and war crimes," J.R. Mailey, who leads special
investigations at The Sentry, said in a statement.
The government dismissed the accusations as a fabrication
designed to damage its image.
"South Sudan is not looking for guns now, South Sudan is at
peace. I don't know why The Sentry is putting wrong stories
against South Sudan," Ateny told Reuters.
The United States and other powers have been stepping up
pressure on South Sudan to stop the war, which erupted less than
two years after the country declared independence from Sudan.
Last month the US imposed an arms embargo, following
sanctions on some South Sudan leaders late last year.
UN investigators last month said they had identified more
than 40 South Sudanese military officers who may be responsible
for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Their report
detailed mutilations, sexual crimes and killings of civilians.
The war has forced more than 4 million South Sudanese to
flee their homes, creating Africa's largest refugee crisis since
the 1994 Rwandan genocide.